Bill would unseal some surveillance court rulings

A bipartisan group of eight senators introduced a bill on Tuesday that would unseal some classified opinions by the court that authorized requests for surveillance.

The bill would force the Justice Department to unseal certain Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court opinions. If the information was too sensitive to national security, the attorney general could instead release a summary of the opinion or provide a report to Congress describing the surveillance that would be implemented.

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Sponsors include several senators who have railed against the potential for government overreach presented by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, including Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Mike Lee (R-Utah.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

They say the thrust of the bill is to allow more transparency — and public debate — over the National Security Agency’s data gathering. Merkley said in statement Tuesday that there’s “plenty of room” to have a public discourse over what surveillance methods are appropriate for the government to use without compromising national security. And Wyden described the current process as having “little to no transparency.”

Merkley and Lee tried to attach the bill as an amendment to FISA’s five-year extension in December 2012, but their amendment was defeated, 37-54. All the co-sponsors of the bill introduced Tuesday voted for the failed amendment as well as the top rungs of Senate leadership including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).

All the bill’s co-sponsors but Heller voted against final passage of the FISA reauthorization, which expires in 2017.